Kewanee’s Boiler Girls opened the Brimfield Turkey Tournament with a win Friday night, while Wethersfield fell to the host school.

In Friday’s first of three, Kewanee held off Princeville 47-44. St. Bede cruised to a 61-24 win over Elmwood in game two and the Lady Geese dropped the finale to Brimfield 75-60. Today’s schedule at Brimfield finds Kewanee vs. Wethersfield at noon, Elmwood vs. Brimfield at 1:30 p.m. and Princeville vs. St. Bede at 3 p.m.

Kewanee 47, Princeville 44

There were peaks and valleys as the Boiler Girls survived their tourney opener against the Princesses.

Kewanee watched leads of eight points after the first quarter (13-5) and 14 midway through the third quarter (30-16) evaporate before hanging on for the victory.

"That was one of the things we talked about, the ebb and the flow," said Kewanee coach Chuck Blake. "There were a couple of times in that game where we were taking control and playing pretty well, but then we would do something that was hopefully out of character."

After building the 13-5 lead at the quarter, the Boiler Girls went more than six minutes without a hoop in the second frame. Jenifer Ensley finally ended the drought with a trey, and the Boiler Girls took a 19-16 advantage into the half.

Kewanee opened the second half with its best stretch of the basketball of the night. Ensley got it rolling with her third 3-pointer and Doriane Fontanez followed with a three-point play to make it 25-16. The Boiler Girls scored the first 11 points of the second half to stretch the margin to 30-16.

"We had good ball movement there in the third quarter and that has to be our game because we're not big," said Blake.

Then came another valley. Tori Potter led Princeville on a 21-6 surge and drilled a 3-pointer with six minutes left to put her team on top 37-36.

Ensley answered with a pair of free throws to put Kewanee back and Amber Jordan added a hoop to make it 40-37. Princeville cut the deficit to one on two occasions, but couldn't regain the lead.

The Boiler Girls converted some key free throws late, including two from Gabby Kubiak with 28.5 seconds remaining to make it 46-42, and hung on for the win as a Princeville trey to force overtime bounced off the rim.

Ensley led a balanced Kewanee attack with 13 points, while Raeshonda Chandler added eight. Princeville's Potter led all scorers with 22 points.

The Boiler Girls made 18 more trips to the line than Princeville, converting 16 of 28 attempts.